Hooked Up Designs Magazine September/October 2017 | Page 48
Capt. Mike Gallo of Angling Adventures of Louisi-
ana unhooks a redfish he caught on a soft plastic
frog while fishing in the Bayou Biloxi Marshes
south of Lake Borgne near Hopedale, La.
hide unless there’s grass growing in it,” Gallo said. “Redfish are
going to be close to the bait. In late summer, some areas get so
choked with grass it’s impossible to fish. Remember those places.
The places with the thickest grass in late summer or fall will be
the first places grass grows again in the early spring. Frogs are
made for fishing thick grass and that’s where the bait hides.”
When redfish hunker down in thick weeds, few lures can
reach them. However, rigged weedless with a 3/0 to 5/0 wide-gap
hook barely inserted into the body, a plastic frog can go through
the thickest vegetation like a 4-wheel-drive vehicle. Frequently,
redfish explode up through the grass to attack these baits.
“The beauty of a frog is that it can get into areas that other lures
cannot reach,” advised Shane Dubose, a professional redfish an-
gler from Tomball, Texas. “Redfish like to hide in thick grass and
ambush baitfish. I can throw a frog over the top of any cover that
I want to fish and not worry about it hanging up. In Texas, I have
used frogs to catch redfish in the marshes around Sabine Lake
and in the East Bay of the Trinity-Galveston Bay area.”
Many companies make frog lures for bass fishing. Some frogs
float and others slowly sink. Some floating frogs come with up-
turned hooks that allow the baits to skitter across matted grass
tops. Some sinking frogs incorporate special slots in the body
where anglers can conceal hooks. Anything that might tempt a
largemouth would also tempt a redfish.
“Fishing a frog for redfish is almost the same as fishing a frog
for bass,” detailed Steve Niemoeller with CFL Fishing Charter
Service, (800-507-0058, www.cflfishing.com) of Deland, Fla.
who guides in both fresh and salty water. “When fish aren’t feed-
ing very aggressively, they may want a slower bait more than a
buzzing one. I like to let a floating frog sit for a long time. If I’m
fishing frogs slowly, I add some scent on them so the bait tastes
real to fish.”
Anglers can fish either frog type in several ways. In very shal-
low water or extremely thick weeds, many anglers simply buzz
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48
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017
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